1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a head for a golf club and more particularly, to the head of a putter for putting a golf ball once it has reached the green.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is well known to those who play the game of golf, putting often accounts for nearly half of a golfer's total strokes over an average course. Although a wide variety of putter designs have been made available, many golfers are still seeking a putter which will assist them in improving their game and consequently lowering their total score.
The art of rolling a golf ball across a putting green toward a definite desired point requires a considerable amount of acquired skill. In the field of regulation play, the putter is probably the most important of the fourteen regulation clubs used in golf because, in part, a player is restricted to the use of a single putter throughout a complete round of competition. Consequently, a player must rely on a single putter club design to meet all conditions in the various putting areas throughout a golf course. These conditions vary from green to green and from position to position on a particular green.
It is well known that the techniques and muscle groups employed in putting are quite different from those associated with the use of other clubs. The distances and particularly the tolerances involved in putting can be quite small. For example, if a relatively short put misses the cup by only an inch it requires another stroke which must be added to the player's total score. Players frequently find it difficult to analyze their putting performance, in part because the range of motion of the club head is quite small and the muscle groups employed in directing the putter head to the ball are difficult to observe. Further, the putter head strikes the ball at a very low speed compared to other clubs, making it extremely difficult to pinpoint any design errors in the club head. For these reasons, many non-professional, and some professional golfers credit their undesirably high scores to a lack of acquired skill, although some attention has been paid to measuring the performance of the putter itself. For example, one well known manufacturer of golf club putters has published in national advertisements and other promotional material lateral dispersion tests for its particular putter. Attention has also been paid to other performance indicators, such as the putter's moment of inertia which, if made large enough, is believed to reduce twisting of the putter head on impact with the ball. Putters of this type tend to have a much larger size and total weight, requiring the golfer to acquire significantly different skills and muscle control to adapt to the heavier putter head. It is, however, generally desirable to further reduce lateral dispersion without unduly increasing the size and particularly the weight of the golf club head.
As in other sports which use a strung racket, golf club putters have what is commonly referred to as a "sweet spot", a term associated generally with a noticeable improvement in momentum transfer. This feature is important not only to avoid undershooting or overshooting a desired target, but is also important because playing areas of different slopes require different initial velocities of the golf ball to assure the desired trajectory or path of travel across a sloping putting surface.
It is further desirable to provide some type of aiming means which visually aids a player in anticipating and maintaining the desired path of travel of the golf club head relative to the target to which the golf ball is to be directed.
Although improvements of various types have been made in the design of golf club putters, no one design has the features necessary to ensure a minimum dispersion performance of the putter.